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375 Posts
Nothing like looking to cause trouble on a Tuesday.
So I ran across an old set of 1980ish Cerwin Vega A-123's on Used Winnipeg about a month and a half ago. The guy was looking for $30 and I figured it was worth buying them. Worst case sceanrio, if a voice coil was welded, I could part out the mids and tweets.
Anyways, these sat in the garage for a while, at least until I got back from vacation, and was able to order a new surround for them (no, I did them in black, not red - you kidding me, $45 shipped for two foam rings?).
What impressed me about the speakers was the quality they oozed. Each weighed about 60 pounds - the 12" die cast woofer baskets alone each weighed 20 lbs! Although I've seen CV slagged a bit for the quality of their crossovers, what I saw in the cab (except for two tennis balls a youngster must have rolled through the bass port) oozed quality hand built. Real wood veneer. Dense, well applied insulation in the box.
So finally Sunday night, I get around to refoaming the woofers, and worked on the mids. Like a lot of mids of that age, they were torn around the edge of the cone (where the paper meets the goo). As they were fairly unique sealed mids, I gussetted the cones with black origami paper, and used a thin coating of diluted Weld Bond to seal them. Again, worst case, I have to find a replacement if this doesn't work. However, the way they were sealed suggested very little excursion (if any).
So finally, I put the darn things back together today, and hook them up in the basement to my old JVC RXV-6020 receive to break them in.
MEIN GOTT!
Bass! Who needs a subwoofer? Treble and mids, got a lot of that too. It was like a geyser of sound for my thirsty ears. And they weren't even broken in yet!
Too much mid, dial it down using the knob on the back, same with the tweet. Even though 30 years old, both of the pots on each speaker worked flawlessly, no scratching, hissing, or anything. Who decided we no longer needed this feature on speakers? They should be flogged!
Maybe part of this is that this setup just sounds right to an 80's kid who grew up on Motley Crue, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden at a buddy's house on his Pioneer/CV combo? However, the variety, depth, and solidity of the sound made my (previously loved) Athena's sound like crap. Same for the Boston A70s I have in my bedroom, and same for the PSB 30's I was previously using in my basement. The speakers even made my old JVC AVR sound better than my HK AVR.
Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that vintage speakers are simply better than anything built now. Period.
Bring it on boys!
So I ran across an old set of 1980ish Cerwin Vega A-123's on Used Winnipeg about a month and a half ago. The guy was looking for $30 and I figured it was worth buying them. Worst case sceanrio, if a voice coil was welded, I could part out the mids and tweets.
Anyways, these sat in the garage for a while, at least until I got back from vacation, and was able to order a new surround for them (no, I did them in black, not red - you kidding me, $45 shipped for two foam rings?).
What impressed me about the speakers was the quality they oozed. Each weighed about 60 pounds - the 12" die cast woofer baskets alone each weighed 20 lbs! Although I've seen CV slagged a bit for the quality of their crossovers, what I saw in the cab (except for two tennis balls a youngster must have rolled through the bass port) oozed quality hand built. Real wood veneer. Dense, well applied insulation in the box.
So finally Sunday night, I get around to refoaming the woofers, and worked on the mids. Like a lot of mids of that age, they were torn around the edge of the cone (where the paper meets the goo). As they were fairly unique sealed mids, I gussetted the cones with black origami paper, and used a thin coating of diluted Weld Bond to seal them. Again, worst case, I have to find a replacement if this doesn't work. However, the way they were sealed suggested very little excursion (if any).
So finally, I put the darn things back together today, and hook them up in the basement to my old JVC RXV-6020 receive to break them in.
MEIN GOTT!
Bass! Who needs a subwoofer? Treble and mids, got a lot of that too. It was like a geyser of sound for my thirsty ears. And they weren't even broken in yet!
Too much mid, dial it down using the knob on the back, same with the tweet. Even though 30 years old, both of the pots on each speaker worked flawlessly, no scratching, hissing, or anything. Who decided we no longer needed this feature on speakers? They should be flogged!
Maybe part of this is that this setup just sounds right to an 80's kid who grew up on Motley Crue, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden at a buddy's house on his Pioneer/CV combo? However, the variety, depth, and solidity of the sound made my (previously loved) Athena's sound like crap. Same for the Boston A70s I have in my bedroom, and same for the PSB 30's I was previously using in my basement. The speakers even made my old JVC AVR sound better than my HK AVR.
Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that vintage speakers are simply better than anything built now. Period.
Bring it on boys!
i accompanied with a pioneer vsx-462s which i still have in mint really. ** due to lack of use over the years if anything.
